OurView Journalist Lauren Smit Holiday hype It’s been six weeks and despite my best efforts, the dreaded Christmas kilo creep is still clinging desperately to my waistline. Alright... walking down the Esplanade for a slice of cake does not count as “exercise” and “cake run” is a mildly deceptive term that doesn’t actually involve any running. A quick glance at the local supermarket shelves and it’s pretty clear that my muffi n top isn’t going anywhere soon - aside from a quick stopover at the bakery on the way home. Cheap chocolates for Valentine’s Day are already “mysteriously” fi nding their way into my shopping trolley (despite the absence of a signifi cant other), alongside hot cross buns and cream-fi lled Easter eggs. Like many people, I’ve been brainwashed (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) by the relentless commercial fl ogging of these holidays. Warren McLaughlin, one of our astute and always thought-provoking letter writers, was recently telling me about the historic origins of Valentine’s Day. Forget the fl owers and heart-shaped chocolates ladies, we’ve been taken for a ride all these years. Crack open that tub of cookie dough ice cream (let’s face it, it’s called “comfort food” for a reason), because the reality of the world’s most romantic day has its roots fi rmly embedded in martyrdom and public fertility whippings - yes, you read correctly. At what point in history did Valentine’s Day morph from its sombre origins into a month-long advertising campaign for chocolate and fl oral bouquets? What happened to the religious signifi cance of Easter and Christmas? Don’t get me wrong - I love a long weekend and I’ll gratefully take any excuse I can fi nd to fi ll my coffers with sweet treats, but like many people I’ll be relieved when these holidays are over. Someone pass me a donut, please? Join the conversation on Facebook /herveybayindy YOURSAY Where to from here Queensland? Fear has derailed the vision of a resurgent Queensland. Oh the irony of it; electors were beguiled by the notion that ‘leasing’ is tantamount to selling the crown jewels. The ‘leasing’ of the Port of Melbourne Authority in Victoria has been endorsed by the new Labor Government there. Do they have a different Labor ideology? So what happens now? Do all the effi ciency gains brought about by the LNP in government departments get rolled back? Does the 30 year Queensland Plan with all its job-creating projects get scrapped? Most importantly, will we now see the B$80+ debt take off because there is no effective plan to reduce or control it? The easy way out is to keep borrowing, but Wayne Swan would have us believe that this is of no concern; Really? It’s already costing us $460,000 every hour in debt interest; keep this in mind when next you get a grant application rejected! The misinformation on signage around polling booths was palpable. The one remarkable outcome from Ted Sorensen’s win was that he came through despite being last on the ticket… with Labor fi rst… and with signs urging voters to number every square (with LNP last) which automatically meant that Labor got the preference vote. Well done Ted. Let’s review where we are this time next year and the same time the year after to monitor the State debt and to see whether we have made progress or regressed. Then you’ll know whether your worst fears were justifi ed or whether in hindsight you should have voted differently. Warren McLaughlin River Heads Big money, big concerns The Australian economy looks like it is about to bomb. You cannot spend your way out of debt, you cannot keep pumping money into an economy to try to keep it viable if you are borrowing that money at a cheap interest rate today and the interest rate goes up tomorrow, you will not be able to service the debt. The Australian Government, that is the government of we the people, does not have the money to bail out our economy again and our federal and state debt is considered to be very high. I am not sure, but I think that as citizens of this country we each owe something like $17,333.56 in public debt and our private debt is at $1.525 trillion. Divide that up against every man, woman and child in this country to get the actual debt that governments have got us into and these are the people employed to manage our economy on behalf of we the people. Australia like many other countries is getting very close to not being able to service the interest on our national debt. Word interest rates have been held low for a number of years because economies are faltering and when they start to rise that is when the big crash will come. If rates go up by as little as three per cent our economy could be in big trouble along with the economies of the US, Great Britain, Ireland, China, Russia and nearly every other European country. At this time we are very close to a total collapse of the world’s economies and that will lead to a world depression like that has never been seen before. And that depression could last for up to twenty years. Tax will go through the roof; your savings will be worthless. Governments will take your money out of the banks and/or restrict the amount you can withdraw each week it will not matter how much money you have you will be restricted to $500 a week. The pension availability age will jump to around 80 years of age, government will be the only organisation that will be able to hold gold, and oil futures will be worthless. The GDP will drop dramatically and unemployment will sky rocket. Investments will be worth nothing, the housing market will bomb. Most people in this country will fi nd it hard to survive because they have lived the good life for most of their lives, Most can’t grow their own food or kill a beast and butcher it to be able to eat. Laugh now because when you look at world economies you will see that this is coming and there is nothing you can do other than insure you have survival equipment that will see you through the hard times. Peter Schuback Sunshine Acres The people have spoken The turnaround in the fortunes of the LNP at the state election is analogous to a person winning lotto only to squander it on hair brained, ill advised, get rich schemes. It is obvious to all and sundry that the promises made pre-election by the LNP in 2012 stood for nothing once they were elected with such a massive majority. Hubris set in immediately. Promises that public servants had nothing to fear, for example, were thrown out the window, because they thought they would be in government for at least two, or even three terms, after which time the people of Queensland would have forgotten about the promises that were ripped to shreds. The threat made during the campaign of not meeting promises for electorates that did not elect an LNP member was extraordinary by any democratic standards. There was much more. The end result has been the crushing election result for the LNP. The lesson for ALL political parties arising from this election is that those people, who are given the privilege of being elected to govern, are there because the people expect them to do so in line with the promises made during the campaign, to act in the best interests of all, that promises will be kept, that they not take the electorate for granted and, most of all, that honesty and transparency be front and centre during their period of tenure. Keith Hefl er Torquay Armchair heaven for spectators Our Socceroos have won the Asian cup, our swimmers are goin’ great guns keepin’ ahead of the ‘yanks’, the Oz Open sure got our attention with locals performin’ well, the cricket had us on the edge of our seats, Cadel’s shown Abbott how to get on his bike at his farewell ride n’ ‘Can Do’ n’ his mob’ve been turfed out of government in a historic election result. A fl amin’ marathon for any armchair athlete! So what’s on the menu this 30 / Hervey Bay Independent, February 5, 2015